Mayor Bill de Blasio meets with students at P.S. 130 after making announcement about universal pre-K, Feb. 25, 2014 (credit: Twitter/Bill de Blasio)Mayor Bill de Blasio meets with students at P.S. 130 after making announcement about universal pre-K, Feb. 25, 2014 (credit: Twitter/Bill de Blasio)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Thousands of people will be in Albany on Tuesday to stage competing demonstrations over New York City’s education policy.

Mayor Bill de Blasio will be rallying with those supporting his plan. Charter school groups will be there to loudly protest his plan, CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer reported Monday.

“There is an extraordinary power in families coming together to make their voice heard, and we would hope that every elected official, and that includes Mayor de Blasio, would hear us,” said Jeramiah Kittridge of the group Families For Excellent Schools. “Charter families are nervous; some are heartbroken. If you are a mom or a dad at Harlem 4 in central Harlem you’re heartbroken right now.”

The charter people intend to flex their might to the max. They said they are expecting 4,500 parents and children from nine cities across the state to pressure the Legislature to guarantee them equal treatment.

And they picked up support Monday from Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, who called the mayor’s decision to deny some charter permits “unconscionable.”

Kramer asked the mayor if the charter protests and Skelos’ comments, coming on the very day he is in Albany lobbying for pre-K, would muddy the waters.

“No, I don’t think anything muddies the waters. I think there’s too much of a demand for pre-K and after-school at this point for any other issue to muddy the waters,” de Blasio said.

Skelos is also said to be concerned about the mayor’s elimination of a $210 million charter construction fund.

Meanwhile, the mayor proposed a plan to build 95,000 after-school seats, which would more than double the size of the program.